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For the ‘Children of ISIS,’ Target Practice Starts at Age 6. By Their Teens, They’re Ready to Be Suicide Bombers.

Article/Op-Ed in Washington Post

Image obtained by the Washington Post

Oct. 7, 2016

Souad Mekhennet was interviewed by the Washington Post about her interviews with a boy who had been indoctrinated by the Islamic State:

The interview had gone on for nearly an hour when Taim, a slim, dark-eyed boy, started to fidget. The 8-year-old asked for paper and settled back in an oversize hotel chair to draw a memory.

His picture, in a child’s bold scrawl, was a scene from the small park near his house, a place where he used to play in the days before the bearded men with guns took over the city. A crowd in the park had gathered around two figures, and Taim remembered them vividly: A man with one eye, and a bald man who seemed upset about something.

“He was looking very angry,” Taim said, narrating his drawing of the bald man. “He is holding the other man and he is also holding something in his right hand.

“The other man has no eye — they had already taken his eye, you see?” he said, pointing to the second figure. “And then the other men stood behind him, and the head of the man with one eye just fell.”